Ohio State basketball uses stifling defense to beat Loyola Chicago

After everyone counted out the Ohio State basketball team, they used stifling defense to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

We have talked at length about how bad the Ohio State basketball team’s perimeter defense has been down the stretch. They were getting beaten by dribble penetration into the paint. That was the concern headed into their first-round matchup against Loyola Chicago.

Chris Holtmann deserves a lot of credit for his gameplan in this game. He fixed the defensive issues that plagued the Buckeyes by having them switch everything. That included up top on ball screens. Getting Kyle Young back was a huge part of that. He helped the Buckeyes win 54-41.

Young was big on both offense and defense. He scored 9 points and 7 rebounds in his first game since March 1st. He had been out with a concussion. His switching abilities on defense were huge for what Holtmann wanted to do on that side of the ball.

E.J. Liddell was really good yet again. He had 16 points and 10 rebounds to go with 3 blocks. He was big in the second half after struggling a bit early. Malaki Branham was good in the first half and finished with 14 points on 5-7 shooting. He carried the offense early.

Team defense was the reason why the Buckeyes won this game. They forced 14 turnovers by the Ramblers. It was a strong performance by Holtmann as a coach and might have been the best job he’s done coaching in the month of March. Let’s see if he can keep doing it.

Ohio State will now play the winner of Villanova-Delaware. That will most likely be Villanova, but we already have seen one 2-seed lose in the first round. Ohio State has a favorable matchup against them too. The Buckeyes might be able to do some things in this Tournament.